What’s that tentacle on the cover of the book?

The artwork on the cover of the novel Semiosis is from a photo of the leaves of a Drosera, commonly called a sundew, a carnivorous plant. The pretty little droplets on the stalks are glue — sweet glue like drops of nectar to attract and trap insects. Other glands on the stalk secrete digestive fluids to dissolve nutrients, which the plant then absorbs.

Like many carnivorous plants, sundews usually grow in moist, sunny locations such as bogs and marshes. The plant needs animal nutrients to make up for deficiencies in the soil. Most are small, but some of the 194 species can reach a meter tall (which is scary). Some are vinelike, others form rosettes or long stalks, and their colors vary.

They’re designed to look attractive to bugs, although human collectors find them fascinating, too. The hapless insect lands on the sparkling leaf and gets stuck. It struggles against the glue, which makes the stalks bend quickly to hold it tighter, and some species even curl their leaves to grip their meal.

Why “Semiosis?”

Here’s a definition: “Semiosis (from the Greek verb sēmeiô, ‘to mark’) is any form of activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, including the production of meaning; an action or process involving the establishment of a relationship between a sign and its object and meaning.” Semiosis encompasses more than semantics, which focuses on language. It can include both human and nonhuman systems that use chemical, auditory, visual, or tactile signs to pass on information.

That is, Semiosis is about communication.

Why the name “Stevland”?

Stevland took his name from Stevland Jamil Barr, the first to die on the voyage to the planet Pax. Colonists agreed that the planet’s most important life form would be named after him.

Stevland Jamil Barr got his first name from the musician Stevie Wonder, whose full name is Stevland Hardaway Morris.

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.